Project manager Dirk Friend discussed the additional costs at a meeting last week.

Friend cited a few reasons for the additional costs, including the pending tariffs on steel and aluminum, along with the construction business being busy right now.

“If it makes anyone feel better, you’re not the only ones in this position,” he said. “We’re seeing with other clients and projects that there is a pressure on the estimates and budgets. This is something we’re seeing around the country.”

The three-story building will include music and art rooms, a multipurpose area with a stage and a vestibule at the main entrance where visitors will sign in at the administration office.

The building will include a three-story lobby, and visitors will need to go through four security checkpoints before being allowed in the school.

It will also include a community center that could have services such as a day care center, food pantry, health care services and adult learning.

The community center part of the building will cost $2 million and was discussed at Thursday’s meeting.

Director Cheryl Johnson-Watts said that if any of the businesses that will use the community space want to put up signage, they should contribute costs.

“Is there any such entity that has come forward to say they would participate in the expenses?” Johnson-Watts asked.

Superintendent Thomas Parker said that as the project progresses, the district will engage with any community partner that has an interest in using the space.

Director Robert E. Smith Jr. said that while it would be easy to cut the community center and save $2 million, the district already said it will include the center in its school.

“This board committed to the community school and we hopefully will get some partners to help us pay for that,” he said.

The new elementary school will replace Cleveland and McKinley elementary schools, which were built in the 1880s.

The school district had previously discussed building a new middle school to replace Harrison-Morton on Second Street in Center City. The board had identified the land at the former state hospital in Allentown as a possible site.

But last week, Smith said plans for the middle school had been placed on hold.

“This is the only school we’re building at the moment, since obviously with our budget we can’t be looking at the middle school right now,” he said. “Hopefully in the future we’ll get back to that. Right now the only borrowing we’re doing is for the elementary school.”